Social Research Methods Alan Bryman Social Research Methods Chapter 17: The nature of qualitative research Slides authored by Tom Owens

Features of qualitative research Inductive view of relationship between theory and research theories and concepts emerge from the data Interpretivist epistemology Constructionist ontology Emphasis on words/text rather than numbers Diversity of approaches Page 380 2

Grounded theory Not actually a theory in itself, it is rather an approach to generating theory from data Data collection and analysis are done hand-in-hand, with constant checking back and forth Useful in producing concepts Key concept 17.2 Page 387

Research methods used in qualitative research Ethnography / participation observation prolonged immersion in the field Qualitative interviewing in-depth, semi- or un-structured Focus groups Discourse / conversation analysis Documentary analysis Page 383 4

The main steps of qualitative research Figure 17.1 Page 384 5

Concepts in qualitative research Blumer (1954) argued against the use of definitive concepts in qualitative research: because the indicators ‘fix’ the concept, because what phenomena have in common becomes more important than their variety. …and in favour of sensitizing concepts: giving a general sense of reference and guidance, allowing discovery of varied forms of phenomena, capable of being gradually narrowed down Page 388 6

Approaches to reliability and validity 1. Adapting concepts from quantitative research little change of meaning quality, rigour and wider potential external reliability (replication) internal reliability (inter-observer consistency) internal validity (good fit between data and theory) external validity (generalization) Page 389, 390 7

2. Alternative criteria (Guba & Lincoln, 1994) Trustworthiness Credibility (a parallel for internal validity) Dependability (a parallel for reliability) Transferability (a parallel for external validity) Confirmability (a parallel for objectivity) Authenticity Ontological (better understanding of the social situation) Educative (better appreciation of others’ perspectives) Catalytic (impetus for change) Tactical (empowerment of participants) Does the research fairly represent different viewpoints? Page 390-393 8

What is action research? An authentic research method dealing with real problems within an organization Designed to assist in their solution Involving an iterative process of problem identification, planning, action and evaluation Researcher plays an active role throughout More common in business and management research than in other fields Key concept 17.6 Page 397

3. Midway position (Hammersley, 1992) ‘Validity’ criterion needs to be reformulated: Empirical account must be plausible But cannot have direct access to social worlds Assess credibility of researcher’s truth claims Adequacy of evidence as ‘true representation’ ‘Relevance’ criterion Contribution the study makes to the field Page 394-396 10

The main preoccupations of qualitative researchers 1 Seeing through the eyes of those studied Taking the role of the other Understanding the meanings people attribute to their world Unexpected findings Description and emphasis on context Detailed account of the social setting ‘Thick descriptions’ of what is going on Page 399-401 11

The main preoccupations of qualitative researchers 2 Emphasis on social process How patterns of events unfold over time Social worlds characterized by change and flux Flexibility and limited structure No ‘prior contamination’ by rigid schedules Sensitizing concepts Concepts and theory grounded in the data Pages 402-404 12

Criticisms of qualitative research Too subjective Researcher decides what to focus on Difficult to replicate Unstructured format Problems of generalization Samples not ‘representative’ of all cases Lack of transparency Often unclear what researcher actually did Pages 405, 406 13

Is it always like this? Some qualitative research departs from these conventions: Focused on a specific research problem (rather than sensitizing concepts / grounded theory) More structured data collection (codified conversation analysis) More structured data analysis (CAQDAS) Greater transparency Page 407 14

Contrasting qualitative and quantitative research Table 17.1 Page 408 15

Similarities between quantitative and qualitative research The concern with data reduction The concern with answering research questions The concern with relating data analysis to the research literature The concern with variation The significance of frequency as a springboard for analysis The control of deliberate distortion The importance of transparency The question of error The appropriateness of research methods to questions Pages 409, 410 16

The feminist critique of quantitative research It suppresses the voices of women; Women are turned into research objects; Controlling variables is viewed as a masculine approach; The use of predetermined categories in quantitative research results in …‘the silencing of women's own voices’ (Maynard 1998); Women are researched in a value-neutral way. Page 410

The feminist preference for qualitative research Women's voices can be heard Exploitation is reduced by giving as well as receiving in the course of fieldwork Women not treated as objects to be controlled by the researcher's technical procedures The emancipatory goals of feminism can be realized. Page 411

However… Many of the worst excesses of discrimination against women might not have come to light were it not for the collection and analysis of statistics revealing discrimination (Maynard 1994; Oakley 1998). It is difficult to see why feminist research that combines quantitative and qualitative research would be incompatible with the feminist cause (Jayaratne and Stewart, 1991 & Maynard, 1994, 1998). Qualitative research is not ipso facto feminist in orientation and some writers have preferred to write about feminist research practice rather than about feminist methods (Maynard 1998). Pages 411,412